A spring storm knocks out the power in Cass' apartment building, so she and Lachlan play some Scrabble by candlelight. In the midst of it, Eric and Jaden show up to talk out a few woes. Eric tells Cass and Lachlan that his last name is Lancaster, but the significance is mostly lost on the both of them. Jaden falls asleep on the floor with Bonnie.

Date It Happened: April 12th, 2007

Scrabble

Cass' Apartment, Brooklyn

Well, Lachlan had the idea to go out and do karaoke, but then that spring storm that had been threatening earlier in the day decided to hit with a vengeance complete with lightning and growling thunder, and it just did not seem like a good night to do karaoke. So the pair decided to kill the rest of the evening by engaging in an age-old custom — something that couples all over the globe have been doing since the dawn of mankind. Dinner has been eaten, candles lit, the lights shut off …

… because the storm has caused a power outage in the building and the movie they had planned to watch was subsequently postponed. So what are Cass and Lachlan doing to pass the time? Cass and Lachlan are /playing Scrabble/. Or, rather, Cass is playing Scrabble — Lachlan is just staring at his tiles with a worried, almost pained expression. "How d'ye spell 'vain'?" he asks after a brief pause.

Now? Why would Eric Walker be coming by at this late hour of the night and this date? To talk to someone that he hardly knows? Well because he feels that they all need an explination! I mean that party was a bit crazy it was. Not much time to talk to anyone after or sence it really, and so, he was in the area after a job and decided…well…why not! He can drop by, if she's busy she won't answer the door! Right? RIGHT!

And so we find the young man, partly wet…as he REMEMBERED to bring an umbrella this time…knocking on Cass's door with a cheerful and curious expression on his face. The dark? Well…um…sadly enough he hasn't even really noticed it quite yet. Stupid nightvision.

Scrabble has been one of Cass' favorite board games since she was a child. So, obviously, when the rainstorm rolled in and karaoke was cancelled, that's her go-to idea. She doesn't seem at all upset at not having Lachlan trying to get her drunk and make her sing in public. Candles on, Srcabble board laid out on the floor, she's definitely enjoying herself. Spelling is fun! "Do you mean vain as in 'I'm so vain'? Or vein as in veins in your hand? 'Cause they're spelled differently." The knock on her door gets a curious look. She glances at Lachlan before standing up to look through the peep hole to find Eric standing there. Unlocking and opening the door, she smiles at hte young man. "Eric! Hey! What're you doing here?"

Unfortunately, somebody else hasn't remembered an umbrella. Or at least, they just don't have one. Because, at the moment, he's soaked. Well, drenched, might be a better word for it. He's leaning against the window, standing on the fire escape and knocking like, well, not like a madman for once. He's too wet for that. He's actually just knocking politely. Which is good, right? Who is this drenched man, anyway? Jaden Cain.

Oh and by the way, he's singing the theme from Dawson's Creek lowly to himself.

"…I just thought I'd drop by," Eric replies with a sheepish bit of a grin. "…I'm not intrupting anything am I?" In the light of the candles his eyes have an odd silvery shine about them than quickly dissipears as he lets his nightvision drop. "I mean…I think I owe you guys a bit of an explination for a few things is all." He adds after a moment before he glances past her towards the candles. "…er…I can come back la—-" And he hears the knock from the /window/ of all places. Pause. "…ter…and if thats Jaden I didn't bring him."

Wait, wait … there are /two/ forms of the word 'vain'? /Shit/. Lachlan looks even /more/ out of his element, eyes going wider, jaw parting slightly, and an intelligible "uhhhh" escaping his lips. Thank God for knocks at the door. He glances up when Cass goes to answer it, lifting his eyebrows when he spots who it is. Bonnie remains laying near board (with its odd mix of words like 'bureau' and 'cat') between the Scotsman and the bookseller, where she has been since they started playing the game. He doesn't say anything to greet Eric, but when there's a knock at the … at the /window/? He glances that way, then rises to his feet and moves over there to see what is up. Spotting Jaden, his eyes widen again in surprise, and he undoes the latch to pull the window open. "So … ye've started knockin' 'stead o' bustin' 'em in, huh?" he remarks dryly to the man on the other side of the pane (another homophone!).

"It's fine, Eric, come on in." Cass pulls the door open wider to let him step in. "No, really, we should be apologizing," she gestures over at Lachlan. "Didn't mean to yell at you. It was just kind of a weird night." Then, there's tapping at the window, but Lachlan is being good enough to take that one. She follows after him shortly to check who this may be. The poor, wet Jaden gets a sympathetic look. "Come in, Jaden, come in, you're getting all wet." Now their duo of Scrabble is becoming a quartet. "Man, we've got people coming in from all angles. We were just playing Scrabble. You boys can join in if you want."

Jaden looks up in the middle of his chorus and almost shudders at the accent. "The Scotsman." is whispered in a quick Adam West flashback impression. He clenches his fists, but remains standing on the fire place, getting more and more soaked by the moment. "I…" He spots Cass and then realizes just what may be going on. He's not -that- stupid. "… think I'll try another window. Didn't mean to interrupt." Apparently, he's not paying attention to the whole 'Scrabble' angle. Could be a codeword for something else. A look around the bodies and, "Hi Eric." Jaden waves politely.

"…Jaden…come on get in here man, your gonna catch a cold if you stay out there and then your mom will be mad at /me/," Eric says with a slight grin as he steps into the apartment. Why does he know he'll get blamed? Because he is always blamed! ALWAYS! Even when its not his fault. "…well…I think Jaden should at least stay till he's dried out." The young man adds with a grin before he shakes his head slightly. "…don't worry about it, the yelling I mean. None of us were in our right minds that night I don't think."

Lachlan was. He doesn't really regret yelling at Eric. Not /really/. At least not enough to apologize. Cass did that for him already. Lachlan doesn't apologize to Jaden or insist that he come in either, as he's still a little wary of the wet, pathetic-looking CEO (and Cass already did the inviting thing /anyway/). He just stands there quietly, glancing between the other three and being an ominous presence of Scottishness.

"Jaden," Cass obviously sounds like she's not going to take no for an answer. "You're soaked through. And if you try knocking on my neighbors window she will definitely shoot you. Seriously. She's an NRA member. Come in. You're not interrupting anything." As far as she knows, Scrabble is a keyword for nothing. Stepping over to the window, she holds out her hand for him to take so he can climb in easier. "See? Eric agrees. We can put your clothes in the dryer downstairs, you can use one of my robes in the meantime, and we'll play a game of Scrabble while we're waiting. Lach, would you grab a towel for me?" That will serve him for trying to be Ominously Scottish. He gets put on Towel Duty. Smiling at Eric, she nods. "Definitely a crazy night. Thanks for understanding."

"…and just a towel too Lachlan, don't bring a potato, it might scare Jaden," Eric can't help himself from adding with a smile flitting to his face.

"Don't worry about it." Only, the voice comes from behind Eric this time. Don't worry, he locked the door back. "I think I'm pretty dry by now." If everyone would look back at the window, they'll see that Jaden is no longer there. "Congratulations…" And he tosses an arm around Eric's shoulders and flashes a big ol' smile. "You just got Ditto'd, guys." As if they even know what that means. He looks towards where the Scrabble game is set up and plasters a big ol' smile on his face. "You know, they have this on Playstation." he remarks, apparently oblivious to the whole 'it's dark as hell and the light's not going to take it anymore' issue.

"….what did you use? Pitty Me Jaden?" Eric replies as he glances over his shoulder towards Jaden with a smirk on his face. He just shakes his head then as he sighs. "Can't do anything with you can I?" He asks with a grin of his old friend before he rolls his eyes. "Powers off Jaden. No Playstation. No Xbox. No cable." Pause. "Think you can survive?" Seeming to take the suprise Jadening in stride. Maybe he was in on it! MAYBE THEY PLANNED THE WHOLE THING! Evil…planners…and stuff. "…and yeah it was…not just thanks to this guy here." He smirks before running a hand through his hair. "…took me awhile to explain everything to Elena, thought I might as well give you guys the heads up to before you found out in some article."

Similarly, Lachlan is not too terribly shocked at the Dittoing, thanks in large part to the fact that Bonnie was able to spot and detect Jaden's entrance — and she even got up to greet him at the door, too! Aw, she's such a good dog. It's because of this awareness that Lachlan doesn't go off to fetch the towel like Cass requested. A glare is shot toward Eric at the potato remark, but for the most part, the Scotsman continues to be silent, now glaring at Jaden warily. He did this stuff before, too, in Elena's apartment, and it wasn't cool to him. Jaden gets points for having not broken in the window /this/ time, however — and as an afterthought, Lachlan closes the window, since it is now unnecessary to have it open.

Cass jumps when she hears Jaden's voice coming from behind her. Twirling around, she stares at him. Blinking, looks between the Jaden behind Eric and then the window where he longer lingers. Did…did he just teleport? Is she the /only one/ not surprised by this? "….Did you just /appear/ behind Eric? With dry clothes?" She's heard about people teleporting, but not about magically drying clothes in the process. Suddenly, the wanting to be Batman and a Hero clicks into place in Cass' head. Right. Superhero. Powers. He's Evolved. "What's a Ditto'd? And what exactly just happened that I seem to be the only one to not know about?" She's trying to figure this all out when Eric starts talking about articles. "Find out about /what/ in some article?" she eyes the younger man warily. This doesn't sound like something good.

Confused as all get out about this whole mess, Jaden drops down on the floor to fiddle with the scrabble board. Pretty sure that Eric's going to be explaining stuff, he reaches out to call for Bonnie with his fingers, as he start ploppin random letters on the board. By the time he's finished, the board reads: 'Luke I Am Your Father' with 'Nooooooooo' underneath it. He dusts off his hands a bit and finally gets around to answering the questions tossed in his direction, by pointing over at Eric. "He'll explain everything. He's good at it. He's like those little books?" He cups his hands over his mouth. "Remember. When you hear the tone? Turn the page."

"…I've been playing his cliff notes for a long time," Eric replies wryly. "Jaden can duplicate himself, I didn't even know that until he sprung it at us in Elena's apartment." He watches Jaden pop the letters on the board before he blinks. He looks down at the unused letters before crouching a moment and making the word 'Engage' and then standing up again and grinning slightly sheepishly at Cass. "…um…its not anything bad or anything. Its just…my father?" Pause. "…he owns the company…that owns the company that Ramon works for." A pause as he rubs the back of his neck. "I changed my name to Walker a few years ago, my real names Lancaster. Thats all."

Phwewwwwwwww! All this just went right over Lachlan's head — except for the bit about Jaden duplicating, because he already knew /that/. He just stares blankly at Eric, blinks once or twice, but there is nothing really happening behind his eyeballs. He does frown at the desecration of the Scrabble game, but it's actually … relieved? Yes, relieved. He was losing so horribly at that game anyway. After several seconds of silence, he addresses Eric: "So …" Pause. Blink. Shrug. "'M gonna get a drink. Ye want somethin'?" This is addressed casually to Cass, but it seems an invitation for anyone.

Bonnie obligingly moves over to sniff at and then lick Jaden's fingers, tail wagging happily.

"Alrighty then." Cass looks over at Jaden and then back up to Eric. She'd probably care more about the Scrabble board being destroyed if this wasn't all so weird. She was winning by a lot, after all. "O…kay. Does…is that a good or bad thing? Or just a neutral thing?" She's not quite sure what this revelation is supposed to mean to her. As she didn't really know Eric's last name /before/ today, the changing of it to Lancaster means little to her. "Huh. That's pretty cool." In an abstract sort of way. When Lachlan goes for a drink, she nods her head. "Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks, Lach."

"…well…depends on how you take it I guess," Eric replies with a sigh of breath that he didn't know he was holding. "…it means that my father owns most of the eletronics firms in the New York State area." He says with a slight smile. "And I'm the youngest son in one of the richest famlies in the state. Elena didn't know and when she found out…um…she has something against people from rich families…so she got a bit upset at me. Thats why…all that happened with the two of us."

All these long explanations and such were apparently too much for Jaden, or maybe Bonnie was just too warm and inviting. Whatever the case, the CEO has curled up on the floor with the mutt and is now asleep. Lachlan, meanwhile, has disappeared into the kitchen. The usual sounds of fetching things from a refrigerator and cupboard can be heard before he returns with two glasses of juice. No alcohol here, nope. One of these is handed to Cass, then the Scotsman goes to sit on the couch. Forget these crazy people standing around talking; he wants to lounge. He begins to dig around in his pockets for his cigarettes and lighter.

Never one to forgo lounging, Cass gives Jaden a studying look and then laughs softly and shrugs. What is it with people falling asleep on her floor? Then, she steers around the sleeping CEO and moves to sit right on Lachlan's lap. Whether he's already found his cigarettes and lighter or not. "She has a thing against rich people? That's weird. She seems to get along with Jaden fine." Taking her juice from Lachlan, she sips on it and settles down. Too bad, Lachlan. They will be lounging and talking. She waves her hand at the armchair nearby for Eric to sit in should he want to. "And that must come in pretty handy. Lots of free computers." She grins.

Eric does indeed sit before he laughs. "Everyone gets along with Jaden, he's not rich…he's /crazy/," The young man replies with a grin, though the grin fades into a slightly rueful look. "…yeah, but I don't /want/ all the free computers. I'm a bit crazy too, at least most of my family considers it so. I actually /like/ making my own money." He adds with a grin. "Instead of being given everything." He grins. "See. Thats crazy talk that is." He says with a wink as he sinks comfortably into the armchair. "…but thats why I'm working with Ramon instead of living of some trust fund like my siblings."

By the time Cass comes over to sit in his lap, Lachlan has discovered his pack of cigarettes and even has one between his lips, but the lighter remains elusive. Of course, when the bookseller takes her seat, he finds himself torn. Th— but … it … but … Cass on his lap is a very wonderful thing that he positively adores, but … he wants nicotine, and his lighter is still in there. It's a strange reaction that this phenomenon gets: on the one hand, Lachlan loosely drapes his juice-holding arm over the woman's lap, but on the other hand, he gives her backside a light pat or two. "Baby," he utters, "I need m'lighter. Get up real quick."

Absently, Cass shifts over to the couch cushions rather than Lachlan's lap so that he can get his lighter. However, with his attention on searching, she uses the opportunity to attempt to snag the cigarette stuck between his lips and then put it in her. Innocent face. "Yeah. Both of you are crazy. Though, honestly, even if I were the richest woman in the world I'd still want to work at Enlightenment. Plus, I wouldn't know what to do with my days if I didn't. Other than research, since that's not exactly lucrative. So I can see where you're coming from. But, still, it's not like it's the same for you. You lose a job, you can go back to your family."

"…yeah…" Eric says with a slight shake of his head. "…though the point is to be good enough to actually /not/ loose the job." Nevermind the fact that, though he isn't Jaden, he has enough money that he's made himself to live off without actually having to work. That…would be boring though! He can't stand boring. However he glances at the pair of them, raises one eyebrow and his mind travels back in time to when Elena and him foud them making out on the desk.

Hrmmm. There awfully close to that point arn't they?

He stands then and grins towards the pair. "…alright though…I should be going. I just came by to tell you guys the truth of things, I felt that you deserved it all." He pauses and looks towards the sleeping Jaden. "…he could sleep in a damn closet." He mutters before shaking his head. "Though he tends to bite if you try to move him. It alright to leave him here tonight?"

It … wh— ? HEY. Lachlan is distracted by the search for his lighter and, having only one hand, he can't look /and/ save his cigarette at the same time. He is quite bewildered when the cylinder that was between his lips … isn't. /Bwuh/. His head snaps around to peer at Cass with a playful grin. "Hey, gimme tha'!" he exclaims, reaching over to pluck the cigarette out of /her/ lips. /Thief/! Being so distracted, he can't really offer Eric a proper farewell, but the younger man gets at least a "yeah, see ye, Eric!"

"That's true," Cass grins. "Well, good luck with that. I think Ramon'd be a good person to work for. If strict." She can tell that just by being friends with him. "Thanks, Eric. I appreciate it." Even if she didn't know that there was anything to be straightened out. Eying Jaden asleep on the floor, she nods. "Sure. He seems to be fine with Bonnie." Hopefully he'll wake up in half an hour and stumble out. Still paying much more attention to Eric than Lachlan, Cass is susceptible to the second theft. "Hey! I stole that first!" And, since she can't let it go without a fight, she reaches forward to grab it back. This is obviously going to go on for a little while. Or, at least, until Lachlan wins the cigarette back and gives Cass another one. Or they end up making out on the couch. With these two, it could go either way.